The Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre will not be changing its name according to Town of Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie.
McKenzie made his comments to the Barrhead Leader June 28 and noted that the town is currently in negotiations with the Barrhead Elks in an effort to find a better fit for the organization’s $150,000 offer.
In a May 24 letter received by the Elks and obtained by the Leader, Mckenzie stated that town council had undertaken ‘a considerable review’ regarding the naming rights and signage of the aquatics centre and that while the town thanks the Barrhead Elks for their offer of a generous donation, it was decided that the centre’s name remain as it is presently.
“We are going to be partnering with the Elks and will be going in a different direction,” McKenzie said, noting while he cannot divulge a lot of information regarding other options for the Elks, there are potential avenues to explore.
Mckenzie said the situation was like coming into a garage while a mechanic is working on your vehicle.
“You walk in and you see your car’s parts are spread all over the floor and you think ‘what the heck is going on here?’ … you know, when you come into something halfway, things might not look very pretty but at the end of the day, it will look good. This project with the Elks is kinda at that stage right now. It doesn’t look good but it isn’t as bad as it sounds,” he said, adding the town remains committed to working with the Elks in the future.
As for the Elks, president Bruce Mclean said the town has their reasons for not accepting the organization’s offer.
“We haven’t given the money to them yet but it was earmarked for them and as soon as the sign was done, they were going to get the cheque. Now we’ll use it for other projects I suppose. It’s got to go somewhere. We’re here for the betterment of both the town and the county and a lot of the projects we undertake benefit children.
Everybody asks me what’s happening, why [the town] refused us, but I don’t know. I can’t even speculate,” Mclean said.
In late January, administration brought forward a proposal from the local Elks chapter who said they would donate $150,000 to the Barrhead and District Agrena Society’s fundraising efforts, which went towards the construction cost of the $12.178 million facility, in exchange for the 25-year naming rights of the building.
That would have been on top of the $100,000 the service club donated in September 2016 in exchange for the 10-year naming rights of the facility’s competition pool.
When the donations are added together it automatically put them into the category for the naming rights of the facility.
Council decided to delay the decision to the Feb. 13 meeting so administration could confirm details with the Elks, such as the exact phrasing of the name.
At that meeting, councillors voted once again to delay making a decision until administration could come up with an estimate of the costs involved in making the name change during their March 27 meeting.
